“We are not asking him to go out there and be Tom Brady,” O’Brien said. “We’re asking him to be Ryan Mallett.”

There were some indications earlier in the week that this move could be coming as Mallett tweeted out that he was ready for an opportunity, only to delete the tweet soon after. O’Brien also told reporters that they were considering the idea of possibly making a change, so the writing appeared to be on the wall for Fitzpatrick.

Mallett, 26, came over from New England in a trade that sent a conditional seventh-round pick to the Patriots in return for him.

Mallett is in the final year of his four-year, $2,947,828 rookie and will make a base salary of $776,976 for the 2014 season before testing the open market next year.

It will be interesting to see how Mallett handles this opportunity as he could end up securing a decent contract in the coming months if he shows signs of promise.